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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

I adore USPS. They are by far the most reliable carrier for last-mile delivery, at least in my city. And they have an added bonus that they can leave smaller packages in my locked mailbox. UPS isn't too bad, to be fair. But FedEx, good riddance. Usually takes two attempts for them to figure out how to get something on my front doorstep.

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USPS won't attempt last mile delivery for me, requiring me to drive into town to pick up packages. The other two will deliver to my door.

Post office staff here are surly. UPS and Fedex drivers are bright and friendly.

Obviously it varies by location.

Same here. Rural area. Our mail carriers are contractors nowadays and even getting a properly addressed standard size envelope in my mailbox reliably is near impossible for them.

My experience is the opposite; I always get fedex and ups packages on time, but my local usps branch frequently delivers late and often claims they attempted to deliver a package when I was home and nobody knocked or rang the doorbell.

The primary function of USPS, as far as I can tell, is to deliver spam. For the privilege of occasionally getting useful mail or a package, I have to subsidize USPS by maintaining a box in my yard for them to fill with that spam.

It amazes me that the environmental activists haven’t taken this up as an issue yet. The amount of spam I receive is enormous and there’s no way out.

Fwiw, junk mail isn't taxpayer subsidized, they pay a different rate. It's actually a profit center for USPS.

I have to subsidize them by maintaining the box so they can save labor and don't have to walk up to my door to deliver spam.

The spam is a profit center for the USPS, it's what allows them to deliver other mail cheaper than UPS/FedEx.

This must vary by location. My box was purchased initially by the neighborhood but is maintained by the USPS. My mom's house gets walk-up service with mail through a slot. Aside from buying stamps or paying to send a package, I have never directly subsidized USPS infrastructure. Excluding the punitive pension requirements Congress uses to make USPS look like a money pit, they'd probably be profitable.

In more rural areas there are not neighborhood boxes like that. Each person is responsible for an individual box by the road.

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